Godzilla (2014) - - - Part 12

[CapedCrusader14]

Man I wanted to love this film, and I love quite a few parts of it, but like the majority of Godzilla films, it's just flawed with unlikeable flat characters (bar Bryan Cranston), visual cheats that let the build-up and excitement disappoint you, ridiculous plot armour and the like. For all it's worth, the visuals are excellent, Godzilla is a total ******* boss (when the film doesn't cheat you out of seeing him, and making his presence not felt), epic shots and some decent atmosphere.

3.5/5

 

[Roose Bolton]

The Muto eggs we're laid inside a bigger Godzilla at the start of the movie.

According to the prequel comic, those bones might be of Shinomura, another monster Godzilla fought.

 

[BrollySupersj]

According to the prequel comic, those bones might be of Shinomura, another monster Godzilla fought.

I don't know if that's right. The Shinomura is a giant life form compromised of millions of little organisms. I don't think it had bones that like that of the one in the mine.

Serizawa said the bones were like Gojira as well.

 

[AnneFan]

I've seen the movie. To be clear, I'm not being contrary or argumentative. I'm not that type of poster. But I wasn't really a fan of this movie. I'd probably give it a 5 or 6/10.

 

[TheVileOne]

According to the prequel comic, those bones might be of Shinomura, another monster Godzilla fought.

Nope. Per Max Borenstein, the Shinomure are not the same monsters as the antagonist MUTO in the films. They are different creatures.

Also the skeleton there I think was meant to be a creature similar to Godzilla.

 

[The Riddler]

i loved it. there were definite flaws and a few pretty huge plot holes/coincidences, but it was a ton of fun.

less is more is absolutely right for a film like this; i think the teases worked effectively. i only wish the main character had more personality and that cranston had more screen time. they should have just shifted cranston to the main character somehow since he was so much more compelling.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Nope. Per Max Borenstein, the Shinomure are not the same monsters as the antagonist MUTO in the films. They are different creatures.

Also the skeleton there I think was meant to be a creature similar to Godzilla.

I didn't think there was any ambiguity. That skeleton was a Godzilla.

 

[DeadPresident]

Let me also say that I thought Aaron Taylor Johnson did a fantastic job. I'm really perplexed as to why he turned so many people off.

Agreed, I thought all the characters were of a good quality, editing and screen time adjustments could maybe have curbed some of the criticisms surrounding the human element. But at no time did I think "geez...this is some terrible acting..."

As a side note, using this thread as a sample a lot of the criticisms aimed at the movie seem to be related to viewer expectations rather than 'objective' technical flaws. If some people wanted Pacific Rim with Godzilla in it and give it a 4/10 because [not enuff monster fights bro] that's a problem with the perception of what a Godzilla story should be, IMO.

I've never seen it, but Godzilla '54 (And the creation of the character, in fact) was supposed to be a cautionary tale with humans and the environment as prominent themes, if I'm not mistaken? I thought Godzilla '14 incorporated that aspect really well.

I agree there are some pacing issues and some of the dialogue/scene inclusion could have been looked at a bit more carefully, but I can look past the technical flaws because the spirit and atmosphere the movie created was incredibly enjoyable.

 

[AnneFan]

I'm all for building suspense, but I thought this was overboard. This one built things up and up then cut away, leaving it all feeling too samey and frustrating for me just as things were getting good. In Jurassic Park, for example, once the Rex was revealed, he was revealed. He wasn't in many scenes either, but there was at least a sense of flow. I thought the final fight would make up for it, but I was quite underwhelmed. Sadly, Godzilla isn't a movie I'd be in a rush to watch again. It felt longer than 123 minutes. I think they could've cut quite a bit. I thought Aaron Taylor Johnson was wooden. Killing Cranston was a mistake.

 

[The Riddler]

the film's biggest problem was despite all the screen time spent on the human characters, none have any actual character. they are all so bland except for cranston. watanabe and hawkins did nothing but spout exposition. taylor johnson is a passive cardboard character until the last 5 minutes of the climax. olsen does nothing but tear up or look up in fear/awe.

i thought the action was effective. i don't think we needed to see more monster rumbling considering we pretty much saw all the moves godzilla should be expected to be able to execute. enormous monsters brawling is kind of limited by the monsters' range of motion.

 

[craigdbfan]

I really didn't get the feeling that the intention was for the characters to be all that full of depth but rather to feel tangible and to be relatively likable and the meanwhile leaving them "empty" on purpose as a way for the audience to vicariously live out the events going on the screen without feeling to weighted down by an extensively plot rich character.

Most people in this world aren't all that extrodinary or interesting. The MUTO's and Godzilla were supposed to fill in that gap while the characters were just supposed to take us through what any person in that situation would fee like emotionally.

No more, no less.

 

[addison81]

Spot on craigdbfan. It worked enough for me.I understand people not liking this film but for me there are so many great moments and they got Godzilla right that it won me over.

 

[antonydelfini]

That's the most sophisticated justification of a bland leading character that took up 2/3 of a movie craigdbfan. Almost convinced me. Then I remembered Jaws. And Alien. And jurassic Park. Managed to have great human characters along the creatures.

 

[DeadPresident]

That's the most sophisticated justification of a bland leading character that took up 2/3 of a movie craigdbfan. Almost convinced me. Then I remembered Jaws. And Alien. And jurassic Park. Managed to have great human characters along the creatures.

"Bland"...or realistic? It would seem out of place if every human character had some iconoclastic and thought-provoking message to put across.

The characters did their bit well enough, not every movie needs to have characters competing for Oscar-worthy notoriety.

I think things could have been edited better, and some characters could have had less screen time but the execution was better than passable.

 

[Liam_H]

You can have realistic characters and not have them be bland. Cranston's character was working and it seemed so natural we would follow him throughout the film.

 

[antonydelfini]

You can have realistic characters and not have them be bland. Cranston's character was working and it seemed so natural we would follow him throughout the film.

During Cranston's first act, I was gving the movie 9/10. I was totally engrossed. Then came Aaron Johnson.

 

[DeadPresident]

Yeah I agree there, if Cranston and son had kind of gone through the whole movie together the way they did in the first third I think reaction to the characters would have been stronger.

From what I remember ATJ's parts with Cranston's seemed like the best parts his character had in the movie. It was an unusual choice for Cranston not to be there to see Godzilla get back up and walk back into the ocean.

 

[antonydelfini]

Yeah I agree there, if Cranston and son had kind of gone through the whole movie together the way they did in the first third I think reaction to the characters would have been stronger.

From what I remember ATJ's parts with Cranston's seemed like the best parts his character had in the movie. It was an unusual choice for Cranston not to be there to see Godzilla get back up and walk back into the ocean.

Agreed.

 

[Rock Sexton]

Spot on craigdbfan. It worked enough for me.I understand people not liking this film but for me there are so many great moments and they got Godzilla right that it won me over.

That's mularkey. You can't possibly understand why we think this film is so bad while at the same time you convince yourself its so good.

I have to remind myself that I'm not a natural-born geek. There are a lot of comic enthusiast that are going to rave endlessly because that's their job as a fan.

 

[The Game]

That's the most sophisticated justification of a bland leading character that took up 2/3 of a movie craigdbfan. Almost convinced me. Then I remembered Jaws. And Alien. And jurassic Park. Managed to have great human characters along the creatures.

Well said, lol

 

[Godzilla2000]

Here's an obscure monster for consideration in future Godzilla movies: Titanosaurus. It would definitely present the opportunity of underwater battles as Titanosaurus is an amphibious monster as well.

 

[Silvermoth]

Just saw it tonight and I thought it was amazing. It's a shame it didn't have it's own forum on here because I would love to go over it in more detail.

The bits with godzilla were amazing but improvement can be found with the awkward cutaways.

Also some of the lines were a bit dodgy ("it's not the end of the world")

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Yeah I agree there, if Cranston and son had kind of gone through the whole movie together the way they did in the first third I think reaction to the characters would have been stronger.

From what I remember ATJ's parts with Cranston's seemed like the best parts his character had in the movie. It was an unusual choice for Cranston not to be there to see Godzilla get back up and walk back into the ocean.

Well the built the parallel between Johnson's character and Cranston's, right down to the "lost wife". Cranston kind of had to be gone.

 

[Takato]

I'm all for building suspense, but I thought this was overboard. This one built things up and up then cut away, leaving it all feeling too samey and frustrating for me just as things were getting good. In Jurassic Park, for example, once the Rex was revealed, he was revealed. He wasn't in many scenes either, but there was at least a sense of flow. I thought the final fight would make up for it, but I was quite underwhelmed. Sadly, Godzilla isn't a movie I'd be in a rush to watch again. It felt longer than 123 minutes. I think they could've cut quite a bit. I thought Aaron Taylor Johnson was wooden. Killing Cranston was a mistake.

Everything you said here was how I felt about the movie. I wanted to love it, even whilst watching it I was really trying to stay interested. It had some nice moments though. If anyone had to die it should've been Taylor-Johnson's character.

 

[Takato]

It was an unusual choice for Cranston not to be there to see Godzilla get back up and walk back into the ocean.

I thought it was such a missed opportunity he never got to see Godzilla at all, just the MUTOS.